Fated To Love You: Episode 10

by HeadsNo2

Our newlywed hero spends a good chunk of time this hour wrestling with desire, which is hilarious and heartwarming and all kinds of fun. But even though we know the good times can’t last, Fated To Love You still proves to be the kind of show that’s sweet enough to give you diabetes and touching enough to get you right where it hurts when it needs to. I won’t deny that this episode makes for one hell of a ride, but at least it doesn’t forget to pave the way with a little (or a lot of) humor—and most of all, heart.

As far as ratings go, Fated dropped to third place at 9.7. It’s Okay rose to second with 10.1%, while Joseon Gunman maintained the slim lead at 11.7%.

SONG OF THE DAY

Jung Dong-ha – “운명 같은 너 (Destiny Sonata)” from the OST [ Download ]

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EPISODE 10 RECAP

After Gun swoops in to kiss her, a long moment passes before he opens his eyes. A tear falls down his cheek before he slowly, ever-so-slowly, pulls away.

But he doesn’t go far, and keeps his arms tightly wound around her as he looks into her eyes. “What can’t you do in this world?” He asks, in response to her concern that they can’t be. Then he gently holds her chin as he leans in for a true kiss.

Mi-young reciprocates this time, letting herself fall deeper into his embrace as he envelops her even closer. The emotions flowing into that kiss are beyond palpable, so much so that I’m getting misty-eyed—and this isn’t even a sad moment! But on the bright side, that’s how you kiss. Learn from this, dramaland. Learn from this.

After that heated exchange, Gun cutely fishes for a compliment for getting her Keddongie mug back, and Mi-young laughs shyly as she gives him two thumbs up.

He smiles as he notes that the snail has finally returned to her old self, otherwise known as his wife, Kim Mi-young. Then he takes her and Keddongie out for something to eat. Can they be any cuter?

Mi-young is already asleep by the time Gun crawls into bed with a predatory smirk. He looks ecstatic when she unknowingly nestles into him, and gives the camera a rakish wink as if to say that he’s totally got this one in the bag.

He’s only momentarily dismayed when she murmurs Keddongie’s name in her sleep, but the mood is truly broken when she says it again. Gun looks like he’s in physical pain as he has to pry himself away from her. Actually, he probably is in pain.

Cut to: Gun taking a cold shower while complaining that the water just isn’t cold enough. Hahahaha.

Cut to: Gun at the doctor’s the next morning with dark circles under his eyes and a haunted expression as he tells the doctor that there’s another him inside, a wild him, that’s been threatening to come out more and more lately. Okay, I know Gun is a hypochondriac, but this? This is amazing.

Much like his last insomnia-induced rant, Gun gets very animated as he screams about having kissed the sexy snail, how he burns up whenever he sees the snail, and AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! That’s not my reaction, he literally just devolves into making incoherent noises.

I love how the doctor calmly responds that while it is hard for a normal man to love a snail, desiring someone you like is totally natural and healthy. When Gun goes further into how he can’t control himself when it comes to Mi-young, the doctor’s only advice is for him to find a way to cope—and above all, stay calm.

Gun turns to religion and hymns, but soon realizes that doesn’t work when he turns to look at his shoulder…

…And finds a bespectacled snail crawling there as the creepy tune from Queen Seon-deok plays. HAH. By the time he pries the imaginary thing off, Manager Tak and Yong come running in with all the national newspapers—and Gun and Mi-young’s love story is on everyone’s front page.

Gun seems upset as he calls Yong closer and asks if leaking the information to the press was his doing, and when Yong meekly replies yes, Gun smacks him on the bottom as he declares, “Good job!” Yong is on cloud nine, leaving Manager Tak feeling unloved.

In her attempt to find a way to drive a rift between Mi-young and Gun, Mama Young accidentally happens upon Gun’s man cave… and the divorce agreement. Jackpot.

Mi-young and Gun go for an ultrasound, and adorably wave hello to the sonogram of Keddongie. Even though their baby is still just a speck with a strong heartbeat, Gun happily claims that Keddongie already has his good looks.

It’s hilarious when Doctor Moon notes that Keddongie’s head is just a little big, which has both Gun and Mi-young fervently denying that such a trait comes from their side of the family (it’s only because small heads/faces are considered more beautiful, not because anything is abnormal with the baby).

But when Gun tries his best to get the doctor to spill the baby’s gender, he soon finds himself outnumbered, since Doctor Moon takes Mi-young’s side in arguing that gender isn’t important. When Gun tries again by asking whether they should buy blue or pink clothes, Mi-young says that they can just buy both.

At the baby store, Gun is quick to point out one of the employees as being their prenatal class teacher. And while it’s true that she looks just like Teacher Park, the employee claims she’s her twin. I hope this becomes a recurring joke.

After Gun goes on a buying spree when it comes to all the baby things, Mi-young stops at a display of a mother, father, and child all in matching outfits. It’s childish but cute, and since Gun can’t say no to her, he buys the set so that the three of them can wear it in the future, along with two teddy bears Mi-young thinks Keddongie will like—because just having one of something is never enough for him.

At home, our happy couple wears their couple PJs while arranging their bedroom into a nursery. They couldn’t be happier, even as Gun asks when the baby is due (Valentine’s Day), and when Mi-young’s birthday is (the day after tomorrow, which means the baby’s eight months out).

But Gun is shocked when she says her birthdate is July 23rd, because that’s his birthday too. Awwwwwwww. They continue the fated birthday synchronization conversation in bed, where Gun makes the sweetest eyes at her. It’s a happy moment that somehow breaks my heart. It’s just that good.

Once Mi-young tells him that she normally spent her birthdays alone, Gun asks her what she’d like to do this year: “If you want me to, I’ll even pluck a star from the sky for you.” *dies*

Mi-young claims she doesn’t want anything special, because it’ll be enough for her if the three of them spend the day together. But since Gun offered, she returns the same to him: “What about you? Is there something you want?”

I love how Gun’s all, Why? Would you get it for me? He keeps inching closer to Mi-young as he asks if she’s sure, and if he can really ask for anything…

…Before he points to Keddongie’s mug and says he wants one too. It’s extra adorable how Gun later curses the fact that he bought two teddy bears when they end up forming a boundary between him and Mi-young in bed that night. Hah.

After Se-ra gets in trouble for being mentally checked out during practice, her friend approaches her out of concern—she knows Se-ra’s been taking sleeping pills at night and that she’s been growing increasingly distant.

“I thought that I would feel better as time passed,” Se-ra says as she begins to cry. “But it just keeps getting harder. I can’t take it. If I could go back in time… if I could have done things differently…”

Mi-young’s arrival at Daniel’s cafe jars him from staring at a picture of him and his sister, and when she asks for a favor he cheerfully says he’ll help her with anything she needs.

…But when she tells him that she wants to make something special for Gun’s birthday, his face falls. Aw.

Daniel watches her silently and intently as she paints a picture of Gun on a mug, and instead of writing his name, writes “Keddongie’s Dad.” He seems to be humoring her when he says she should pursue art classes, but he also seems half-serious before he asks when her birthday is so he can get her a present.

He’s surprised to hear that it’s tomorrow, the same as Gun’s, and since he’d rather not pass it off as fate he mumbles that it’s not so uncommon to have the same birthday. Oh, Daniel. I love you, but you’re hopeless.

Per Gun’s instructions, Manager Tak has made all sorts of arrangements and reservations for his birthday… but the reason he’s trying extra hard is because he’s jealous of Yong, so it’s uncomfortable and hilarious when he asks for assurance that he did a good job offering his bum to be approval-smacked by Gun.

It comes as a surprise to him when Gun tells him it’s Mi-young’s birthday too, and that can only mean one thing in Manager Tak’s eyes: Fate! Gun mulls over that, and denies that he’s tired when Manager Tak worries about his appearance. Eek, he’s perfectly healthy, right? Right?!

Mama Yong saves herself in the eyes of the head elder when she delivers Gun’s divorce agreement to him. She knows it’ll be the end of Gun, and tells the elder that he better finish him off with one blow this time.

At home, Mi-young makes Yong a seafood soup with a special chewy surprise: fish eyes. Yong is grossed out, but smiles through it in order not to hurt Mi-young’s feelings before he tells her she doesn’t need to stay with him.

But Mi-young surprises him when she says she wants to stay, especially after he tells her that he’s used to eating alone. “Then I’ll keep you company from now on,” Mi-young declares. “We’re family now, after all.” Yong is touched, even if he still thinks his hyung is scary.

That night, Mi-young writes another letter to Keddongie in his scrapbook in order to tell him about her and his father’s shared birthdays and how she finds it fascinating that she shares so many similarities with Gun when she thought that they were two completely different people.

In the morning, Gun goes looking for his snail with snail hands that quickly morph into Thriller hands when he spots her coming out of the shower wearing only a towel. Is it because Mi-young’s not wearing her glasses that she can’t tell he’s scanning her like a barcode?

He has to remind her that they’ll be celebrating their birthdays today, and sinks to his knees when she goes to get dressed. “I wish I was that towel!” he cries. Haha.

Thanks to Mama Young and the head elder, news of Gun and Mi-young’s divorce agreement hits all the major newspapers. An emergency Lee Clan meeting is called, with the head elder feigning ignorance as he all but screams over the shame this has brought them. During his tirade, Gun pats Mi-young’s hand for support and solidarity.

Grandma Wang can’t believe what she’s hearing and falls into her chair in grief when the pair doesn’t deny it, while the head elder accuses Mi-young of all sorts of terrible designs, even demoting her status as “madam” to just “agasshi.” Gun’s defense that she to do with the divorce agreement doesn’t work on so many hard-headed elders.

Gun instinctively says “Mom” when Mi-young’s mom comes bursting through the doors after hearing the news, causing Mom to turn on him angrily: “What did you call me? Mom?!”

Even Mom thinks her daughter agreed to receive money in exchange for the baby, and attempts to drag her out kicking and screaming if she has to. “Mom,” Mi-young ventures desperately, “I love him.”

But Mom won’t hear it, and eventually pulls Mi-young out of the room. The head elder tsks that such low class people became part of their family, but is quieted when Gun warns him in a low voice that he can say what he wants about him, but isn’t allowed to defame Mi-young or her mother.

Outside, Mi-young tries to tell Mom that it’s not Gun’s fault when she agreed to the divorce as well, and begs her to consider the circumstances with which they got married in the first place. Most of all, she doesn’t want anyone to think Gun is a bad guy, which has Mom infuriated—even after all this, Mi-young dares to take Gun’s side?

Gun runs outside to beg Mom’s forgiveness, repeating over and over again that he did wrong as he asks her not to take Mi-young away. Mom at least considers him enough to say that she’s liked him ever since he married Mi-young.

And whether or not the agreement is legally binding or not doesn’t matter to Mom, as she tells her son-in-law with tears in her eyes, “You hurt my daughter. You took my daughter and made her miserable, I know that very well!”

When she asks if there’s any reason why she shouldn’t take her daughter away, Gun’s agonized expression says yes, even if he can’t find the words. Knowing that, he has no choice but to let Mom take Mi-young away, though they’re immediately met with a horde of reporters outside.

Mom does her best to try and protect her daughter, but there’s no use. Daniel, who was on his way to their house, is only able to catch a glimpse of Mi-young before she’s rushed away.

While Se-ra perks up at the news of Gun’s broken marriage, Mi-young apologizes to Mom for making her upset. There’s no more anger left in Mom, just pity and sadness as she asks her daughter why she always insists on enduring everything alone.

Grandma Wang is in worse shape at home, forcing Gun to apologize to her while she’s unconscious and hooked up to an IV. Gun: “I had such a difficult time when I first got married… so I did it even though I knew it was petty. Because I thought I at least had to do that so I could endure. But now, Grandma, there’s a place in my heart that’s deafening and awfully empty… empty. I’m going to take care of all this and make you smile, so you can get angry, but just don’t get sick, okay?”

After he leaves, Grandma opens her eyes—she’d been listening the whole time. And just like Mom, her anger has also subsided.

Manager Tak tells Gun just how badly the divorce news has impacted the company, but Gun couldn’t care less about that right now when there’s something much more important, as he numbly explains: “Today is our snail’s birthday. I shouldn’t be like this right now.”

That’s all well and good according to Manager Tak, except he doesn’t know how Gun can fix that mess—it’s not like they’re Romeo And Juliet. But something about that reference gives Gun an idea.

The mob gathered outside is in for an unexpected surprise when Gun, Manager Tak, and Lawyer Hong burst through the doors dressed as high school students (a throwback to another Jang Hyuk movie, Volcano High). Their ballsy act manages to fool the reporters, who wonder who those “students” are as Gun and Manager Tak run far, far away. It’s completely ridiculous, but totally hilarious. We needed this.

As they run like Mario and Luigi down the street, Manager Tak tells Gun that he’s already made arrangements with Mr. Choi and President Park to help Mi-young escape the mob in order to meet them.

The Soapsuds Duo feed the members of the press en masse in order to distract them as Yong, Ji-yeon, and Mi-young exit the restaurant also disguised as high school students. (This time, it’s a Successful Story of a Bright Girl reference inception’d into a Volcano High reference—Jang Nara’s name tag is her character’s name from that drama.)

When the mob isn’t convinced, Yong makes a scene by confessing his love to “noona” Mi-young, only for Ji-yeon to go off-script by acting like the jilted third wheel. She uses the opportunity to plant not one, but two on Yong (hah), which gives Mi-young the perfect opportunity to sneak away.

While Manager Tak notifies Gun that an emergency board meeting has been called to have him dismissed, Se-ra grabs a plane ticket to fly to Seoul immediately. All the while Mi-young waits at the approved rendezvous point, where Daniel calls her because he hasn’t been able to stop worrying.

Meanwhile, Manager Tak pulls a sudden U-turn away from Mi-young in an effort to get Gun to the board meeting in time to stop his own dismissal. But he’s forced to pull over regardless when Gun becomes dangerously adamant.

He tries following Gun on foot to beg him to just call Mi-young and tell her that he can’t meet her, but it’s like Gun isn’t even listening. “I’ll be back after I tell her happy birthday,” Gun insists in a frighteningly detached sort of way. “I’ll be right back.” Something’s wrong. Something’s very, very wrong.

Manager Tak finally loses it with Gun as he grabs him by the lapels and tries to shake some sense back into him. It means something when he drops to banmal as he addresses Gun like a friend: “Come back to your senses, Gun-ah!”

But Gun is as limp as a rag doll in his grasp, and only slightly more responsive as he challenges Manager Tak’s distrust in him before asking, “Do you know what I have to do right now? Don’t hold me back.”

The world spins around Gun as he tries to forge his own path on foot… before his eyes roll back into his head and he drops to the asphalt like a sack of potatoes.

Mi-young, completely unaware, tries calling Gun with no response. She reassures Keddongie that daddy must be very busy, and that they’ll just wait for him.

Keddongie’s dad (*sob*) is rushed to the ER as Daniel pulls up near Mi-young. He doesn’t interfere with her waiting, choosing instead to just watch over her for now.

A worried Doctor Moon examines a still-unconscious Gun at the hospital, and orders an MRI… which means Gun’s wedding band has to be removed. You’re killing me, show. KILLING ME.

After hours pass, Daniel gives Mi-young a call to ask how her birthday is going. It’s an opportunity for Mi-young to confide in him, but she chooses instead to inject happiness into her tone as she lies to Daniel that everything’s fine. In fact, she’s about to have dinner with Gun.

It’s heartbreaking that she’s trying to keep Daniel from worrying, even if it doesn’t work. He still walks up to her with a bag and the excuse that he’s delivering Gun’s mug so she can give him his birthday present.

“You came by because of this?” Mi-young asks, surprised. “No,” Daniel admits. “I didn’t come because of this cup. I came because I was worried about you.”

He ignores her interjections in order to ask how long she’s going to let herself be hurt by Gun. She’s confused by his sudden intensity even as she insists, with a smile, that Gun hasn’t hurt her. But Daniel sees it another way, since he knows she just lied to him about Gun being with her.

“Ever since you met him, you’ve always put up with it, suffered, and waited. But does it really not affect you?” he asks. “I wish you wouldn’t do that anymore. I can’t stand to see it now. I want to be brave about my feelings with you.” Omo, is he admitting that he’s going to pursue her?

When Gun slowly comes to at the hospital, a blurry figure hovers nearby and takes his hand. But when he squints to focus, he sees that it’s not Mi-young, but Se-ra.

While Daniel and Mi-young stand at a crossroads, Se-ra tells a very confused Gun, “It’s me.”

 
COMMENTS

If this is the kind of emotional havoc this show can wreak when we’re only at the halfway mark, then lord have mercy. And to think that none of this angst was caused by a fundamentally ridiculous misunderstanding between our two leads. Even after spending the last thirty minutes with my heart in my throat, I still can’t sing enough praises for this show.

I had an inkling that Mama Yong wouldn’t be as harmless as we wished she would be, but her level of maliciousness still managed to surprise me. Even if there had been more than a minuscule effort to humanize her, it still wouldn’t have made what she did any less terrible. Yes, she’s had it hard and that sucks for her, but she’s spent enough time with Mi-young at this point to know her as a person. And anyone who’s spent time with Mi-young would know that she’s a sweet, innocent soul who would rather put herself in harm’s way if it means someone else doesn’t have to be—so the fact that Mama Yong could still release those documents knowing that it would do irrevocable damage to Mi-young’s life (not to mention the growing one still in her stomach) was beyond morally repugnant. That woman is dead to me.

Despite having a horrible human being for a mother, one of my favorite moments from this episode was actually the understated moment of bonding between Mi-young and Yong. Even if he didn’t have enough courage to step up to defend her during that nightmarish family meeting, it was enough that he pitched in to help her escape. I know it wasn’t even a huge point the show was trying to make when it had much bigger fish (eyes) to fry, but it was sweet just the same.

What made this big blowup especially hard to watch was that Gun and Mi-young were technically innocent, and very much in love despite what everyone (literally everyone) now believes. It’s true that Gun drafted the divorce agreement when he shouldn’t have, but his explanation this episode was poignant precisely because he recognized his wrong and the state of mind he was in when it happened. And we know that he had the agreement amended, even if we don’t know how, so the original would’ve been moot if not for Mama Yong and that inexplicably-hateful clan elder. (Seriously, if there’s only one son born per generation, shouldn’t he care even a little about Gun?)

At the same time, it’s easy to see how their relationship could be misconstrued, which made me so proud of Mom for at least stopping to think twice about Gun. As for Daniel, it’s kind of hard to blame him for getting the wrong idea when he had no way to get the right one as an outsider looking in. All he knows is that Gun gave Mi-young the divorce agreement, that the news broke, and that Mi-young waited all day for a husband who never showed up. He has no idea that Gun’s changed since he last saw that document, or that the situation itself has changed—but he was able to prove for himself how unreliable a narrator Mi-young can be when she lied to protect Gun.

So while we have to wait another week to see how the third wheel mechanics are going to play out now that Se-ra’s back and Daniel’s officially throwing his hat in the ring, just think: It’ll all be worth it. How do I know? Because Fated To Love You is still too good to be anything less. (Unless Gun gets amnesia.)

 
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